Upper and lower border deflecting means for overedge sewing machines



Sept. 19, 1967 w TRETQW ET AL 3,342,150

UPPER AND LOWER BORDER DEFLECTING MEANS FOR OVEREDGE SEWING MACHINES Filed Feb. 9, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS 2 ,3 l, WERNER Mirow BY KURT GE/ 17 7 12 Y 7M/)b '4 i ,i W /9 ana.

Sept. 19, 1967 W` TRE-row ET Al. 3,342,150

UPPER AND LOWER BORDER DEFLECTING MEANS FOR OVEREDGE SEWING MACHINES Filed Feb. 9, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet INVENTORS WERNER 772Tow KURT GE/ Edam/L Sept. 19, 1967 w, TRE-row ET AL UPPER AND LOWER BORDER DEFLECTING MEANS FON ovEREDGE SEWING MACHINES F'lled Feb 9, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 v n u, o

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Sept. 19, 1967 w TRETOW ET AL UPPER AND LOWER BORDER DEFLECTING MEANS FOR OVEREDGE SEWING MACHINES Filed Feb. 9, 1965 4 Sheets-Shefet 4 Fig. 8

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INVENTORS WER/VER 7R57() W Kl/R T GEI/B BY zum M United States Patent O 3,342,150 UPPER AND LOWER BORDER DEFLECT- ING MEANS FOR OVEREDGE SEWING MACHINES Werner Tretow, Kaiserslautern, and Kurt Geib, Enlrenbach, Germany, assignors to G. M. Pfaff AG, Konigstrasse, Germany, a corporation of Germany Filed Feb. 9, 1965, Ser. No. 431,316 Claims priority, application Germany, Feb. 12, 1964, P 33,570 3 Claims.`(Cl. 112--162) The invention relates to a sewing machine which secures together two superimposed widths of fabric along a line of stitching parallel to the borders of said fabric widths and at a distance therefrom, and which simultaneously sews a separate edging on the border of each of said widths of fabric. A sewing machine of the type involved herein is fully disclosed in application Serial No. 33,408, filed June 2, 1960, now Patent No. 3,192,887, issued on July 6, 1965, and assigned to the assignee hereof.

The present invention is an improvement over the sewing machine disclosed in the aforementioned patent, which improvement substantially simplifies the construction and operation thereof. In accordancewith the invention, the sewing machine is provided with a pair of deflectors for deflecting the widths of fabric, which are greatly simplified in construction and which are driven by driving means already present in the machine for other components, whereby to increase the space available on the machine for the necessary components thereof. More specifically, in the sewing machine of the present invention, the fabric deflectors are driven by the same means, which drive the overedge loopers, and have the same motion as said loopers.

Accordingr to the invention, the above object is accomplished by fastening the fabric deliectors to the looper carriers. The entire drive train for the deflectors can thus be omitted. In this way, the machine in accordance with the invention is greatly improved by providing enough space available underneath the fabric carrier plate for driving the overedge loopers.

The fabric deflectors are particularly well adapted to the required direction of motion by the further feature of the invention whereby the fabric deector for deflecting the edge of the upper fabric width is attached to the carrier for the upper overedge loopers and the fabric deflector for the edge of the lower fabric width is attached to'the carrier for the lower overedge loopers.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more fully understood from the following description considered in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front view of the sewing machine, in accordance with the invention, with parts broken away and shown in section for purposes of clarication;

FIG. 2 is a Vertical longitudinal section through the gearbox housing in the direction of the axis of the lower main drive shaft;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the drive train of the chain stitch looper;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the drive train of the upper overedge loopers;

FIG. 5 is a vertical longitudinal section through the gearbox housing in the direction of the axis of the drive shaft for the overedge device;

,p FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the drive train for the lower overedge loopers;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the drive for the overedge needles;

FIG. 8 is "a view taken along line VIII-VIII of FIG. l;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken on the line IX-IX of FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged View, in perspective, of two fabric widths being sewn together at the stitch formation points;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of the stitch formation tools and of the fabric edges at the stitch formation point for making the upper overedge seam; and

FIG. l2 schematically shows the stitch formation tools and the fabric edges at the stitch formation point for making the lower ovcredge seam.

As best shown in FIG. 1, the sewing machine, in accordance with the invention, consists of the fabric carrier plate 1, the arm 2, and the head 3. The arm shaft 4 which is supported within the arm 2 drives the needle shaft 8 with the needle 9, which is supported within the carrier 7, via the crank 5 and the guide 6. In addition, the arm shaft 4 drives a lower main shaft 11 located below the fabric carrier plate 1 via the belt chain 10, the lower main shaft 11 being connected to a drive shaft 13 (see also FIG. 2) via a clutch 12, which is supported in a gearbox housing 14 attached from below to the fabric carrier plate 1, through which it protrudes in some places.

The front portion of the drive shaft 13 (FIG. 3) is designed as a slanted crank 15. The slanted crank 15 is gripped by two sleeve sections 16 of a cross sleeve 17 which `carries a pin 19 in its sleeve sections 18 extending upwardly and downwardly. The pin 19 has a transverse opening to admit the slanted crank 15. The ends of the pin 19 protruding from the sleeve sections 18 are surrounded by the bearing eyes 20 of a swing 21 which is equipped with a bearing pin 22 and a shaft 23 whose axes are at right angles to the axis of shaft 13 and which are supported in the gearbox housing 14.

The slanted crank drive imparts to the shaft 23 a swinging motion in the axial direction. This motion is transmitted to a chain stitch looper 25 as an ellipsoid motion via a looper carrier 24 attached to the free end of the shaft 23 which protrudes from the housing 14. In this manner, the swinging motion of the shaft 23 causes the loop-seizing motion of the chain stitch looper 25. Its magnitude is determined by the inclination of the slanted crank 15. The magnitude of the evasive motion of the needle agrees with the axial motion of the shaft 23 and is a function of the vertical distance of the intersection point of the axes of the slanted crank 15 and of the pin 19 from the drive shaft axis 13. In conjunction with the.

needle 9, the chain stitch looper 25 produces a double chain stitch seam serving as a fastening between two widths of fabric.

The sewing machine has the additional function of putting a separate overedge seam each on the two edges of the two widths of fabric to be fastened together.

For this purpose, the drive shaft 13 (FIGS. 2 and 4) carries a gear 26 which meshes with a gear 27 having twice the number of teeth and being attached to an intermediate shaft 28 located above the drive shaft 13.` The gear 27 meshes with a gear 29 of equal size (see also FIG. 5) carried on a drive shaft 30 for the overhand sewing tools, which is also supported within the housing 14. The front portion of the drive shaft 30 is designed as a slanted crank 31 enclosed by two sleeve sections 32 of a cross sleeve 33 which carries a pin 35 in its sleeve sections 34 extending upwardly and downwardly. The pin 35 has a transverse opening to admit the slanted crank 31. The ends of the pin 35l protruding from the sleeve sections 34 are surrounded by the bearing eyes 36 of a swing 37 which is equipped with a bearing pin 3S and a shaft 39 whose axes are at right angles to the axis of drive shaft 30 and which are supported in the gearbox housing 14.

The slanted crank drive gives the shaft 39 a swinging motion in the axial direction. This motion is transmitted to two upper overedge loopers 41 and 42 via looper carrier 40 attached to be free end of the shaft 39 which protrudes from the housing 14. Rigidly attached to the rear overedge looper 41 is an upper fabric deflector 43 which extends in front of the reed 44 of the overedge looper 41 and ends in a striking edge 45.

The inclination of the slanted crank 31 determines the magnitude of the loop-seizing motion of the overedge loopers 41, 42 and of the deflecting motion of the fabric deilector 43. The sidewise motion of the overedge loopers 41 and 42, caused by a displacement of the pin 35 with respect to the axis of the drive shaft 36, while not required for the sewing action, is necessary for an evasive motion of the overedge loopers 41 and 42 with respect to the needles ofthe overedge device which are described below.

The drive shaft 30 (FIGS. 5 and 6) carries an eccentric 46 enclosed by a coupling 47. Attached to the coupling 47 via a compensating joint is a guide 48 which carries a ball socket to receive a ball-end lever 49. The ball-end lever 49, which is fastened to an oscillating shaft 50 protruding from the housing 14, is therefore set into an oscillating motion by the eccentric 46 via the coupling 47 and the guide 48. By means of a looper carrier 51 attached to the end of the oscillating shaft 50 which protrudes from the housing 14 these oscillations are transmitted to a lower fabric deflector 52 and two threadcarrying lower overedgeloopers 53 and 54 which are both attached to the looper carrier 51. Starting from the looper carrier 51, the fabric deector 52 extends upward in front of the front overedge looper 54 and is equipped with a striking edge 55.

The end of the drive shaft 30 which is located opposite the slanted crank 31 (FIGS. 5 and 7) is connected to a crank arrangement. This consists of the crank 57, the member 58, and the oscillating member 59. The pin 60 of the crank 57 which is screwed onto the drive shaft 30 is enclosed by an opening 61 of the member 58. A lateral extension 62 of the member 58 has a slot whose direction is parallel to that of the axis of the opening 61, and also has an opening at right angles to this. In the latter, a cylindrical sliding rod 64 is fastened by means of a pin 65 extending through the slot 63. The sliding rod 64 is movably supported by the openings 66 4and 67 of the oscillating member 59, one end of which pivots around a pin 68 attached to the housing 14, and whose other end is connected to the guide 69. The crank 57 imparts a circular motion to the member 58 which is converted into oscillating motions of the oscillating member 59 of the crank arrangement 56 via the sliding rod 64 which can slide in the openings 66 and 67. As is well known in the case of crank arrangements, deflection in one direction is faster than in the other direction.

The guide 69 is connected to an oscillating needle shaft 71, which is supported within the gearbox housing 14, via a lever arm 70. The arrangement is such that, at left dead center of the crank arrangement 56, its pivot point around the pin 68 as well as its connection point to the guide 69 and the connection point of the guide 69 to the lever arm 70 are all located on a straight line, the lever arm 70 forming an angle of almost 90 with the guide 69. This causes the oscillating motion transmitted from the crank arrangement 56 to the lever arm 70 to be greatly retarded over the lower portion of the oscillation of the lever arm 70 and -to be accelerated over the upper portion of the oscillation.

The oscillatin-g needle shaft 71 carries a crank arm 72 which is connected via a coupling 73r to a second crank arm 75 which lis attached to a second oscillating needle shaft 74 supported within the gearbox housing 14 and has the same length as the crank arm 72, etxending parallel to the latter. The free ends of the oscillating needle shafts 71 and 74 protruding through the gearbox housing 14 carry one needle holder each, 76 and 77, which hold arched overedge needles 78 and 79 that perform identical oscillating motions as a result of being interconnected as described.

As a result of the special relationship between the positions of the lever arm 70, the guide 69, and the crank arrangement 56 at top dead center of the overedge needles 78 and 79 as described above, the motion of these needles outside of the fabric proceeds very much slower than with the needles extending into the fabric. This makes it possible to effect only one stitch formation of the overedge sewing organs for every two stitch formations of the chain sititch sewing organs, with the advancement of the fabric occurring in the same rhythm as that of the chain stitch sewing organs. The insertion of the overedge needles 78 and 79 into the fabric then takes place following each second advancing motion of the fabric feed dog. The time for which the needles remain in the fabric is limited to the period between to advancing strokes due to the faster motion that occurs during this period.

The advancing motion is produced by a device of known type. For this puroses, the main shaft 11 (FIG. 9) carries an adjusting device 80 with an adjustable eccentric 81. The latter acts on the crank arm 83 of a sliding shaft 84 by means of an eccentric rod 82. The adjusting member 85 contained in the adjusting device 80 for adjusting the eccentric 81 can be adjusted by means of an externally actuated connecting member 86 which can mesh with the `groove 87 while turning the hand wheel of the machine at the same time. The front end of the sliding shaft 84 carries a crank arm 88 (FIG. 8) to which is connected a carrier 89 for a fabric feed dog 91 working through the needle plate 90.

The lifting motion is imparted to the fabric feed dog 91 by means of an eccentric carried on the lower main shaft 11 in the conventional manner. Via an eccentric rod and a crank arm, the eccentric imparts an oscillating motion to a lifting shaft 92 located underneath the fabric carrier plate 1 in parallel with the sliding shaft 84. The front end of the lifting shaft 92 carries a crank arm 93 which is connected to one end of the carrier 89 via a vguide 94 and imparts lifting motions to the carrier and thus also to the fabric feed dog 91.

Acting together with the fabirc feed dog 91 is the bottom surface 95 of a presser foot 96 of suitable shape which is attached to the lower end of a spring-loaded pressure foot bar 97.

In addition, the machine has devices for supplying sewing thread to the stitch producing tools, for trimming the fabric edges to be sewn together, and for separating the two fabric layers for the purpose of separately applying the overedge lseams in the same manner as disclosed in previously mentioned Patent No. 3,192,887.

When sewing two fabric widths 98 and 99 together, they are fastened together by a two-thread chain stitch or fastening seam 100, as shown in FIG. 10. The edge of the upper fabric width 98 is given a two-thread overedge or securing seam 101 at the front stitch formation point, an-d the edge of the lower fabric width 99 is given a two-thread overedge or securing seam 102 at the rear stitch formation point.

As FIG. l0 further shows, the edges .of the two fabric widths 98 and 99 are separated by a separator plate 103 which is attached to the needle plate 90.

(FIG. l1 illustrates the joint action through time of the three front overedge sewing tools (overedge needle 79, lower overdge looper 54, and upper overedge looper 42) to produce the overedge seam for the upper -fa'bric width 98, and the fabric deector 52 for deecting the edge of the lower fabric width 99. The position of the overedge sewing tools and of the fabric deflector as illustrated corresponds to a position of the overedge needle 79 following the penet-ration of its point through the separator plate 1013 that supports the edge of the fabric width 98. The striking edge 55 of the fabric `deflector 52 has already seized the edge of the lower fabric width 99 and pushes it far enough away from the path of the overedge needle 79 to permit it to stitch freely past the edge.

iFIG. 12 shows the three rear overedge sewing tools (overedge needle 78, lower overedge looper 53, and upper overedge looper 41) for sewing the overedge seam or the lower fabric width 99, and t-he fabric deflector 43 for deflecting the edge of the upper fabric width 98. In the position as shown, the overedge needle '76 is just stitching past the edge of the upper fabric width 9S which is pushed aside by the striking edge 45 of the fabric deflector 43.

While we have herein shown and described the preferred embodiment of our invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise than as herein specifically illustrated or described, and that in the illustrated embodiment certain changes in the details of construction and in the form and arrangement of pants may be made without departing from the underlying idea or principles of this invention within the scope of .the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A sewing machine for securing t-ogether two superimposed widths of fabric and for sewing edgings on the borders of said widths comprising:

(la) securing means for stitching said two widths together alon-g a line of stitching parallel to the borders of said fabric widths and at a distance therefrom;

(b) means defining first and second sewing stations;

(c) deflecting means for effecting relative borderwise deflections of said widths at said first and second sewing stations, respectively, for disposing only one of said widths for a sewing operation at said first station and for disposing only the other of said widths for a sewing operation at said second station;

(d) first and second sewing means for sewing, respectively, an edging on the border of said one width at said first station and an edging on the border of said other width at said second station, each of said edgings being secured only to the associated border;

(e) looper means associated with said sewing means;

and

(f) means attaching said defiecting means directly to said looper means for movement in unison therewith.

2. A sewing machine for securing together two superimposed widths of fabric and for sewing edgings on the borders of said widths comprising:

(a) securing means for stitching said two widths to- `gether along a line of stitching parallel to the borders of said fabric widths and at a distance therefrom;

(b) means defining rst and second sewin-g stations;

(c) defiecting means for effecting relative borderwise ydefiections of said widths at said first and second sewing stations, respectively, for disposing only one fof said widths for a sewing operation at said first station and for disposing only the other of said widths for a sewing operation at said second station;

(d) first and second sewing means for sewing, respectively, an edging on the border of said one width at said first station and an edging on the border of said other width at said second station, each of said edgings bein-g secured only to the associated border;

(e) lower overedge carrier means carrying first and second lower overedge loopers associated, respectively, with said first and second sewing stations;

(.f) upper overedge carrier means carrying first and second upper overedge loopers associated, respectively, with said rst and second sewing stations; and

(g) means attaching said defecting means directly to said upper and lower carrier means, for movement in unison therewith.

3. A sewing machine for securing together two superimposed widths of fabric and for sewing edgings on the borders of said widths comprising:

(la) securing means for stitching said two widths together along a line of stitching parallel to the borders of said fabric widths `and at a distance therefrom;

(b) means defining first and second sewing stations;

(c) deecting means for effecting relative borderfwise deections of said widths at said first and second sewing stations, respectively, for disposing only one of said widths for a sewing operation at said -first station yand for disposing only the other of said Widths for a sewing operation at said second station;

(d) first and second sewing means for sewing, respectively, an edging on the border of said one width Iat said first station and an edging on the border of said other width at said second station, each of said edgings being secured only to the associated border;

(e) lower overedge carrier mean-s carrying rst and seoond lower overedge loopers associated, respectively, with said first and second sewing stations;

(f) upper overedge c-arrier means carrying first and second upper overedge loopers associated, respectively, with said firist an-d second sewing stations;

(g) said defiecting means ycomprising first and second defiectors for defiecting, respectively, the lower and upper widths of fabric; and

(h) means attaching said first defiector directly to said lower overedge carrier means for movement in unison therewith and said second deflector directly to said upper overedge carrier means for movement in unison therewith.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,448,495 8/1948 Muecke i12-262 2,973,730 3/1961 Schwedia et al. lf2-162 3,192,887 7/1965 Perl 112-162 3,246,620 4/1966- Sigoda et al. 1112-1612 PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner. I. R. BOLER, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A SEWING MACHINE FOR SECURING TOGETHER TWO SUPERIMPOSED WIDTHS OF FABRIC AND FOR SEWING EDGINGS ON THE BORDERS OF SAID WIDTHS COMPRISING: (A) SECURING MEANS FOR STITCHING SAID TWO WIDTHS TOGETHER ALONG A LONE OF STITCHING PARALLEL TO THE BORDERS OF SAID FABRIC WIDTHS AND AT A DISTANCE THEREFROM; (B) MEANS DEFINING FIRST AND SECOND SEWING STATIONS; (C) DEFLECTING MEANS FOR EFFECTING RELATIVE BORDERWISE DEFLECTIONS OF SAID WIDTHS AT SAID FIRST AND SECOND SEWING STATIONS, RESPECTIVELY, FOR DISPOSING ONLY ONE OF SAID WIDTHS FOR A SEWING OPERATION AT SAID FIRST STATION AND FOR DISPOSING ONLY THE OTHER OF SAID WIDTHS FOR A SEWING OPERATION AT SAID SECOND STATION; (D) FIRST AND SECOND SEWING MEANS FOR SEWING, RESPECTIVELY, AND EDGING ON THE BORDER OF SAID ONE WIDTH AT SAID FIRST STATION AND AN EDGING ON THE BORDER OF SAID OTHER WIDTH AT SAID SECOND STATION, EACH OF SAID EDGINGS BEING SECURED ONLY TO THE ASSOCIATED BORDER; (E) LOOPER MEANS ASSOCIATED WITH SAID SEWING MEANS; AND (F) MEANS ATTACHING SAID DEFLECTING MEANS DIRECTLY TO SAID LOOPER MEANS FOR MOVEMENT IN UNISON THEREWITH. 